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A new gas project in the North Sea worth £3 billion has been given the go ahead by the UK Oil & Gas Authority (OGA). The OGA was launched in April 2015 as one of the first moves by the new conservative government to act as the governing body to the North Sea oil and gas industry and assist with economic recovery.

The Culzean field is the biggest discovery made in the North Sea for a decade and holds around a quarter of a billion barrels of oil equivalent. It is expected that it will produce enough gas to meet 5% of the UK’s needs by the time it is fully operational.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has put a proposal forward that would have huge affects on the renewable energy industry by hugely reducing incentives payed for by the Feed in Tarriff (FiT).

FiTs currently provide businesses payments for generating energy through methods such as installing wind turbines and solar panels. Businesses also receive payments for additional electricity they make by selling it back to the grid.

Global oil prices have taken another hit this week due to a surprise drop in demand from the USA and concerns over the Chinese economy. Analysts have indicated that the glut of oil is expected to continue into the new year which will keep prices low for the foreseeable future.

The small island of El Hierro located in the Canary Islands has became the first remote location in the world to be powered totally by renewable energy. The island is now powered by wind turbines and a hydro plant to provide green energy.

Any excess electricity produced by the wind turbines is used to pump the water kept as sea level up to the reservoir. If the wind is not strong enough to provide the whole island with the required energy, the hydro plant will start to produce energy to compensate.

The Obama Administration has gave Shell permission to start drilling in the Arctic, which has prompted a huge backlash with environmental groups. Shell had been waiting for a safety vessel called the Fennica which is required by law to be present while Shell drills. The Fennica carries a state of the art device designed to limit the impact of a blowout.

Scottish Power has announced that they will be closing Langannet Coal Power Plant at the end of March 2016. This was the last coal powered power plant remaining in Scotland and will close after 46 years of producing power in Scotland.

Scottish power have said that reemployment opportunities will be available for the 230 staff whose jobs are directly affected. The explanation for the close was put down to the high carbon taxes and transmission charges which had caused running the plant to become uneconomic.

The Scottish Government have made a sum of money available for interest free loans for people wanting to make the switch to electric cars. The scheme is called The Electric Vehicle Loan and will allow people in Scotland to borrow up to £50,000 interest free to buy a new electric car. Grants are also available for people in Scotland to buy electric charging points for their homes.

Oil prices this week have hit their lowest for six and a half years, with many experts expecting that to fall even lower. The World Bank has announced that it expects oil prices to fall by at least another $10 per barrel by next year, due to an expected return to the market for Iran.

Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has announced new powers for the government to step in if local councils are attempting to delay fracking applications. They have set a limit of 16 weeks for local councils to either accept or decline the applications, stating that extra delays do not benefit either side.

In May 2014 Quadrilla submitted plans to drill four wells in Lancashire, however, the decision was repeatedly delayed. It is this kind of situation that the government is determined to avoid and the new powers will allow them to intervene if this sort of situation happens again.

P272 is a mandatory change instigated by OFGEM which will effect all profile classes 5-8 that have Automatic Meter Reading (ARM) installed. When the changes take effect all metres that fall within these profile classes with AMR fitted will be charged using the half hourly data instead of a pre determined price.

This will be implemented by the 1st of April 2017, although some suppliers are campaigning to have that pushed back to avoid their customers having to change their contact mid may through their current arrangements.

You would have noticed over the past two months that the price of diesel has slowly crept lower than that of petrol. Prices of both diesel and petrol have been falling since the price of oil crashed in the back end of 2014. Supermarkets have been very aggressive with their price cuts and this month have slashed diesel prices by 5p per litre, with the average cost of a litre of diesel now sitting at 112 pence.

The budget delivered by George Osborne on the 8th of July has had a massive effect on the energy sector. A major part of that budget was the removal of the Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemption from renewable energy. The CCL tax effects non domestic users and was created as an incentive for companies to be more energy efficient, however, companies using renewable energy sources were exempt. The Chancellor decided that this was unfair, as it had meant that it was benefiting renewable energy produced abroad.

Seasonal gas and electricity contracts reached record lows in July, as winter storage worries were offset by lower oil prices. A strong pound against the euro, as well as an announcement that additional storage for the winter had been approved helped keep prices on a downward trend.

Annual October 15 gas fell to average 44.7p/th, a 2.7% reduction over the month and Winter 15 contracts fell by 2.3% to reach their lowest point since 2010. Electricity prices followed gas prices with the winter 15 contracts falling by 1% to average £45.4/MWh.

Facebook has announced that it will be testing a solar powered drone that will be able to stay in the air for up to three months. This plane will then provide internet access to the areas of the world that have limited to no access currently.

The idea stemmed from the solar powered drone which has recently broke the world record for flying around the world using solar power. Facebooks version will be the size of a Boeing 737 jet and will require helium filled balloons to bring it to the correct altitude.

Barack Obama will take what has been described as ‘the biggest step to tackling climate change’ when he announces his revised Clean Power Plan. President Obama has been very vocal throughout his two terms in office about the effects of climate change, and has recently been quoted saying ‘climate change is not a problem for another generation, not any more.’

Glasgow Airport has announced that it has saved £11,000 on its energy usage by implamenting energy management measures. The measures included switching to energy efficient vending machines and LED lighting throughout the site. Almost 600 staff were also trained in energy efficiency, which will help to keep day to day energy waste costs at a minimum.

Centrica has stated that it will be cutting 6,000 jobs after the British Gas side of the company had reported a doubling of its profits for the first part of the year. The majority of the job losses will effect the UK and Centrica is hoping that the majority of the job losses will be through redundancies.

The profits of British Gas have risen from 265 million to £528 million from this point last year, and Centrica has promised to create more jobs in other areas of their business to compensate for the 6,000 they will be cutting.

There has been a huge push by the industry to raise awareness of ESOS through articles, webinars, seminars and workshops, yet there are still some companies that have not started to act on ESOS yet. With the December the 5th deadline now fast approaching, you would think that the majority of companies that must comply, would have at least started to gather the information required for the audit, however, this is not the case.

A gas discovery has been made in the North Sea in one of its most mature regions, by Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil and its partner Total E&P Norge. This comes on the same day that the UK authorities have granted 41 offshore exploration licences in a round of awards.

Critics have pointed out that the award to drill does not mean that the company’s will actually drill, however the opposing side state that the fact there is huge demand for the licences shows that the UK’s North Sea oil and gas industry are still attractive.

The London Mayor and Uxbridge MP Boris Johnson has announced his plans to make London the Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) capitol of Europe. The plans include developing areas of certain boroughs where ULEV’s will be able to gain access to preferential parking and charges. It is believed that this will create an incentive for people to but the vehicles, with them being able to park closer to their destination for a cheaper price.